The 2000 Western Conference Finals was a showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers that many had anticipated for months.
As one Los Angeles-area newspaper headline put it, it was a battle between “Two Deep,” meaning the Lakers’ duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and “Too Deep,” which referred to the fact that the Blazers had several bench players who would’ve likely started on many other teams.
